‘
In this week’s roundup: Funding the new economy, freedom cities, and the relationship of free trade in social solidarity economies.
Plus: We are very excited to partner with The Media Consortium and The Laura Flanders Show to launch the New Economies Reporting Project, providing journalists with resources and support to amplify the new economy story. Check out our fellows here!
Stories from the Field
Funding an Equitable Economy: There are many obstacles for communities working to build a new economy but one of the most common is funding. Specifically, once you secure funds, how do you make sure that community members, not funders, retain control over their projects? NEC member the Boston Ujima Project is working to create a democratically controlled investment fund in Boston neighborhoods. Check them out in this piece from In These Times.
Home Care Co-ops: In the next 10 years, home care work is projected to add more jobs than any other occupation in the United States- but despite the projected growth of home care jobs, there will be a smaller pool of people able to fill them due to job quality. But the Cooperative Home Care Associates, which trains 600 people every year, is attempting to change that by offering workers multiple incentives to stay in the industry, from free training to a chance to be a worker-owner in the company. Read about their work here.
Freedom Cities: The Freedom Cities movement is growing to support vulnerable populations and build grassroots activism aimed at driving policy change at the local level. Check out this video on how New Yorkers are fighting for a city without fear and what we can do in our city and community.
Solidarity Economies Abroad
Fair Trade in the New Economy: What’s the role of fair trade in a social solidarity economy? Sometimes, Fair Trade organizations and cooperatives lack social values and purposes– leading to a rift with solidarity economy values. This article explores free trade in relation to Italy’s ‘Emilia-Romagna model’ where cooperatives create one third of total GDP. Read it here.
Planning for Transition: Resulting from a municipal initiative, Barcelona, Spain has set forth a three year plan for building a social solidarity economy. Besides a plan of action, it provides a primer on the elements that make up a social solidarity economy and what sort of resources that might take in a city such as Barcelona. Check it out.
Across the country, people are rising up: saying no to injustice, inequality, and reliance on fossil fuels and saying yes to concrete economic alternatives, like cooperatives and community-owned businesses grounded in sustainability and equity.
NEC brings these leaders together and gives them support to to bring their solutions to life and to scale. Now we're asking for your support. We have a $15,000 pledge from a foundation. Our goal is to match that by raising $15,000 from individuals by June 30. Please help us get there! To learn more about NEC and our impact, check out our 2016 annual report and support the new economy here: http://bit.ly/2pt82mI.
Plus, if you give $25 or more, we'll send you an NEC poster or tote bag.
Movement News
- Is Socially Responsible Capitalism Losing?
- In Trump’s America, BLM Activists Grow Weary of Their Smartphones
- Climate Science Meets a Stubborn Obstacle: Students
- As Far as These States are Concerned, the Paris Climate Agreement is Still On
- Activist Chokwe Lumumba Wins Jackson Mayoral Race With 93% of Votes
- Ed Whitfield: “Freedom is a World In Which We All Have Access To What We Need”
- Status of Black Women in the United States
Job Board
Multiple Positions, Spitfire Strategies
Development Coordinator, The Icarus Project
Associate, Mayor’s Innovation Project
Ujima Fund Manager, Boston Ujima Project
Development Director, CoFED
Development and Partnerships Coordinator, The Icarus Project
Associate, Mayor's Innovation Project (Madison, WI)
Education Team Member, The Highlander Center
Director of Education, North American Students of Cooperation (NASCO)
Multiple Positions, The Story of Stuff
Upcoming Events
Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy
The ECWD is a biannual conference which provides practical tools, networking, and strategies for worker-owners, union members, technical assistance providers, community organizers, and scholars. We support an economy that utilizes cooperative and democratic organizational structures to support equitable systems for exchanging goods, services & products and stewardship of the commons for mutual benefit by all. (New York, June 9 – 11)
Two First Worker Co-ops Launch In Staten Island
For those in the New York area, please join the Center for Family Life's Cooperative Development Program in celebrating the launch of the first two worker-owned cooperative businesses based in Staten Island! We warmly invite you to join us for of a more exclusive look at these two businesses and to hear stories from the small business owners that are taking entrepreneurship into their own hands. (New York, June 20th, 2017)
5 Tips to Detangle Destructive Power Dynamics in Your Team with Round Sky
Understand where and how power is used, and how to make changes daily toward generative and healthy power! Even the most collaborative teams can experience the corrosive effects of destructive power dynamics. In this webinar, participants will gain an understanding of different forms of power, how it affects every facet of work life, and most importantly what we can concretely do every day to practice and leverage generative power, yielding organizations that are more successful and inclusive while delivering on their missions. (Online, June 20, 2017)
Rethinking Economics in a Post-Truth World
The students of Goldsmiths Rethinking Economics Society and PERC, bring together a series of trans-disciplinary lectures and workshops based around demystifying economics. The talks and interactive workshops aim to inspire a broader definition of economics, and through a pluralist and multi-disciplinary lens, confront the prevailing power of economics, and its role in contemporary political debates.(London, UK, July 1, 2017)
Center for Popular Economics Summer Institute 2017
We’re living in a global moment of reactionary backlash: fear mongering about immigration, refugee crises, climate change denial, rising nationalism and conservative protectionism. These processes occur against the backdrop of increasing inequality, division, and conflict across the globe. At Summer Institute 2017, we’ll explore the economic structures which have shaped this moment, and how we can build alternative forms of global economic integration and solidarity. (Amherst, MA, July 30, 2017)
View all NEC member events on our website »
‘